1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to shielded electrical cable and shielded electrical connectors to be affixed thereto, and in particular to the termination of the shielding braid about the electrical cable.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
When terminating shielded electrical cable, it is common to electrically couple the shielding braid of the cable to a shield member of an electrical connector or electrical device. One way of accomplishing this is to attach the braid directly to the shield by welding or soldering. Another method is to include a crimp ring that fits about the braid of the cable and may be crimped thereto such that the braid is positively retained. After crimping, the crimp ring must be commoned with the connector shield. Another known solution is to crimp the braid directly to the connector housing. This may be accomplished by providing a flange that extends from the shield that would fit beneath the braid and provide a crimp ring thereover that, when crimped, tightly fastens the braid therebetween. It is also known to join the braid to a shield flange directly, as described above, but rather than using a crimp ring, a second ring is used that is press fit thereupon, thereby captivating the braid therebetween.
While the aforementioned concepts work reasonably well to form an electrical connection with the braid, they are not altogether satisfactory in some applications, such as with miniature connectors. For example, it is difficult to reliably common and affix a crimped ring to a shield of a connector as the outer surface of the crimp ring has been distorted by the crimping operation and the crimping does not always yield a positive engagement with the braid as the braid is typically flexible and not supported underneath. In addition, welding of the braid directly to the shield typically results in only an electrical connection occurring over only a portion of the braid and the heat produced may be sufficient to damage the shielding braid of the smaller cables associated with miniature connectors. While the concept of press fitting a ring directly about a braid spread over a flange of a shield works admirably, it does have a problem in that it is not always possible to form a flange in the connector housing. Especially in miniature connectors it may not be possible for the shielding to provide adequate structural integrity. What is needed is a way to reliably engage the braid, desirably over a large portion thereof. The structure used should be simple to use and adaptable to many operations without requiring excessive high precision tolerancing.